What If: Signal Was Part of the Fediverse? (signal.org)

submitted 1 year ago by mossy_capivara@midwest.social to c/fediverse@lemmy.world

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Anyone else wondering?

top 14 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] ebc@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

Signal had something good when it could simply be your default messaging app on your phone, and it'd transparently send either encrypted messages, or plain-text SMS. Now that they've removed SMS, they've just turned into a worse Whatsapp (because nobody is on it). Network effects are important in messaging apps.

[-] mossy_capivara@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago

Trust me I know, having my whole family try it out and then have them pull that later was a punch in the face

[-] sarsaparilyptus@discuss.online -2 points 1 year ago

Was that the punch in the face, or was it all the morons intentionally misinterpreting this argument and saying "but why would u want to send nonsecure messages are you aware SMS isn't secure it's like so insecure to send SMS bro it's not secure it's like literally a security risk bro SMS isn't secure at all and also are you aware SMS security is poor"

[-] dismalnow@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Not doubting that pushy idiots are going to pushy idiot, but I think you've strawmanned the actual reason hard enough.

Most people who want it back don't need, want, or understand why secure messaging exists.

Here's the simple facts:

SMS is not secure, or private.
Signal is for secure, private comms.

As mildly inconvenient as it is, Signal explained their reasoning in great detail, and I happen to agree: There should never have been an insecure option on a secure messaging app.

[-] sarsaparilyptus@discuss.online -3 points 1 year ago

Question: are you missing the point deliberately, or is it genuine obliviousness?

[-] effingjoe@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

You literally made up an argument no one made in this thread.

The fact of the matter is that it is unwise to have both secure and insecure messaging side-by-side. Depending on where you live, this could translate to a simple mistake resulting in imprisonment or worse. It's very important that a "secure messaging app" only allow secure messaging.

You, like myself, probably live in an area where accidentally sending a message critical of the government over an insecure message would not have any tangible consequences, so perhaps you're weighing the convenience as more important due to lack of perspective.

[-] sarsaparilyptus@discuss.online -4 points 1 year ago

You literally made up an argument no one made in this thread.

I literally was not confined to this thread, which is blatantly obvious if you know how context works.

The fact of the matter is that it is unwise to have both secure and insecure messaging side-by-side.

Skill issue. If it's too hard for some people to pay attention to what they're doing and use a tool correctly, they can buy a Vsmile. This is all ignoring the fact that no human being could possibly fuck it up on Signal unless they're too illiterate to send text messages—or indeed use a cell phone—in the first place.

[-] effingjoe@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

I literally was not confined to this thread, which is blatantly obvious if you know how context works.

Making up an argument no one in the discussion has made is called the "Strawman Fallacy". Why should anyone in this thread care that you talked to someone (allegedly) that was so dense that they made a bad argument that you got frustrated with?

If it’s too hard for some people to pay attention to what they’re doing and use a tool correctly

Ah, so much hyperbole. If I'm successfully stripping all of it away, is seems that your argument is that it is impossible (P=0) to accidentally send an SMS message in Signal, thinking it was a secure message. Is that really your stance? Admittedly, there was a lot of hyperbole so I might have missed the actual point. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[-] sarsaparilyptus@discuss.online -4 points 1 year ago

"muh fallacy"

I didn't know this was reddit

I might have missed the actual point.

You deliberately missed the point, and seem to think I can't tell you're being deliberately obtuse.

[-] effingjoe@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

A fallacy is just pointing out that your argument isn't likely to arrive at the truth. As I explained, your "I met a dumb person and so all arguments against this are dumb" stance isn't useful, even if we agree you're not just making that all up.

I asked for clarification. Is that your stance? That it's fundamentally impossible that someone could accidentally send a SMS in Signal while thinking it is secured? I'm going to assume that you don't believe it's fundamentally impossible, so that mean your real stance is that if that happens and someone gets sent to jail or worse, that's a small price to pay for your convenience of not having to *checks notes* switch between two apps.

Do you see how your lack of perspective might be leading you to make a poor argument?

[-] sarsaparilyptus@discuss.online -3 points 1 year ago

Being this obnoxious is practiced and you're clearly conversing in bad faith, that's the only response you get

[-] Steve@compuverse.uk 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This always struck me as strange thinking.
Are most people really unable to understand and use different messengers with different contexts and groups?

Honestly I use a few myself. My job has Tiger Connect. I use Signal with all my family and friends. Then I use SMS for some companies automatic notifications. It's pretty simple and easy.

[-] ebc@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago

Well, yes. But when all your friends are already on Facebook Messenger, good luck getting them to install Signal only to talk with you. Network effects are important; a messaging app has no use when you have nobody to message on the app. Supporting SMS was taking advantage of its network effect, and I don't think their network was big enough to be self-sustaining for most users (it wasn't in my case, my only contact in there is my wife).